EVALUATION 1
HOW DOES YOUR OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
For my OTS I took a lot of inspiration from the opening titles to TV films like Pan's Labirynth or TV series American Horror Story, incorporating similar scenes of death symbolism. Below is my analysis of example shots taken directly from my OTS and compared to my inspiration. Most of them have a certain recognizable aesthetic or style which can be see throughout my Opening Sequence which I tried to recreate.
This shot is heavenly inspired by Pan's Labirynth (2006) opening, which is a slow reversed death of a main character. I used this as a way of challenging horror conventions and have a death of a main character right from the first shot, suggesting the film will tell the story of his death. I wanted to encourage the audience to watch the film by creating curiosity and having questions developing in their heads - 'How did he die? What happened to him? Who's next?' leaving them with ambiguous feeling of constant fear. Instead of having the main character miracously survive the whole film (what makes it highly unrealistic) I wanted to put the audience in danger, as the empathy developed with Ty's character would make them relate to him more and therefore anxious about their own safety.
Although the shots aren't completely identical, I took a massive inspiration from the Sherlock Holmes (2009) sequence of an occultist ritual. The reason for this is the fear of the unknown the audience will have, and what that brings into the film. The entire scenery is creepy and mysterious, which confirms to the horror conventions. I wanted the audience to subconsciously refer to similar ideas they came across before, with a refreshed look on it that keeps the same sinister emotions. That way I incorporated typical horror spiritualism and supernatural while remaining subtle.
The scene of washing hands was inspired by AHS: Cult (2017). Simply I wanted to connect my OTS to traditional style of horror with a gory blood and the 'post-murder' imagery. Hinting at the fact someone has been killed remains the tension throughout the film, especially while not revealing the face of a murdered or any other connotations or context of the murder.
In this example I was inspired by AHS: Coven (2011) reflections of the water. I thought it's a brilliant idea to work as a metaphor of the audience's fears being reflected on the screen, as well as the lack of transparency of the water suggesting the clear and dark intentions of the killer or the idea that kills the characters. In my shot I filmed a tree with quite sinister long leafless branches which I thought resemble a classic convention of nature portrayed in horror - abandoned buildings, forests, dirty water and empty streets.
This is another example I took from AHS: Coven (2011). I thought the symbolism portrayed by fire is perfect for my OTS - the idea of chaos, destruction and self-destruction. It also hints the anger and fiery emotions that could trouble the characters while being potentially possessed by thoughts or demons of their own past. I thought this challenges a traditional horror in a way there isn't as much symbolism used in modern films of this genre, often they are just straightforward gory scenes or long dark shots of the victims running away. Here, I challenged that view and let the audience built up tension without directly showing them the murder scenes.
Here the inspiration isn't through the visuals but rather the audio. In A Clockwork Orange (1971) it's the narration that takes the audience on a journey of madness and controversy, which I found perfect for the idea of using a poem as a leading foundation in my OTS. The soft yet deep voice of a narrator I used sets the mood of the film, slowly reciting the poem and telling a story that the audience begins to experience. I feel like this again challenges the horror conventions, as rarely ever narration is used in horror films which usually tend to be silent with a dark music in the background.
Another convention we challenged was the pacing of our OTS. Traditional horror films often establish a lot slower tense pace in their OTS. Instead I had a fairly quick pace where shots switch back and forth, which again makes the scenes more shocking and strange. For the quick flashy sequence of Ty losing his mind, I got inspired by the Get Out (2017) scene of the character showing stress and weakness. I though that using Ty fidgeting perfectly presents the anxiety which the audience can relate to and through using fast paced shots I can add on to the fear.
And lastly in the comparison I was conforming to conventions through the use of zooming in on the details. Again inspired by the Get Out (2017) I wanted to give the audience an insight to the mind of characters with dark thoughts, as a way of achieving empathy for the characters as well as losing a sense of security the main character usually should provide
A final convention I conformed to was the use of atmospheric dark music which builds up, which then breaks suddenly once the danger hits its peak during the answering of a phone.
In addition to a way my OTS challenged the conventions is that most modern Horror films use quite low lighting throughout, to create atmosphere. I deliberately used high key lighting in scenes where there wasn't obvious horror connotations, such as the shots outside which there is quite a lot of, and to add a clear contrast between scenes. This gives the audience a false sense of security, and safety that is instantly taken.
In addition to a way my OTS challenged the conventions is that most modern Horror films use quite low lighting throughout, to create atmosphere. I deliberately used high key lighting in scenes where there wasn't obvious horror connotations, such as the shots outside which there is quite a lot of, and to add a clear contrast between scenes. This gives the audience a false sense of security, and safety that is instantly taken.